The California State University, Fresno (CSU-Fresno) is proposing the establishment of an MBRS-SCORE program to strengthen its biomedical research infrastructure so that more clientele from its serve can engage in research careers. CSU-Fresno is a geographically isolated campus of the CSU system, serving California's sixth largest city and the rapidly growing Central California region. CSU-Fresno enrolls over 18,000 students, 52.3% of which represent minority groups. Currently, 22% of the CSU-Fresno faculty are also minority group members. CSU-Fresno is designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution. The proposed CSU-Fresno BRS-SCORE program involves twelve faculty, integrating independent research projects from all six departments of the School of Natural Sciences (SNS). The program's breadth underscores the wealth of scientific approaches that can be used to resolve biomedical and behavioral issues, and ultimately it serves to attract scientists with varie3d interest toward careers in biomedical and behavioral research. The goal of the CSU-Fresno program is to make the institution, and in particular its faculty, more competitive in their efforts to build successful and sustainable research programs. With the foundation provided by MBRS- SCORE, CSU-Fresno's strong research faculty can produce at the highest levels. The specific objectives of the program will assess faculty productivity in response to the challenge to meet elevated targets for publication, presentation and grant submission/funding. Both the MBRS participant faculty and the entire SNS faculty will be evaluated to determine whether a strong core of research faculty can influence institutional development. The MBRS-SCORE program will be the central element uniting CSU-Fresno's well-established educational support programs in order to effect this institutional change.